Mom and I are very tired of winter…Very.
I want to go out and about checking on my friends out on the farm. Although, Mom keeps telling me ‘no more running around and staying gone, Boomer’.
I don’t get why she tells me that I know where I am and what I’m doing.
So…
Mom and I wander around where the mud is starting to dry out, which isn’t very far. And Mom takes photos…mostly of birds.
Not much going on. Pretty much housebound.
Sigh!
Boomer
Mom and I went out last night sorta kinda early. Mom wanted to go before the snow came in, so out we went.
Just Mom and I. Mom told Mindy she had to stay inside.
We saw a raccoon. That was all.
Then when we started to come back in it started snowing.
Mom built up the fire then we headed to our beds.
It’s still snowing today.
Mom says Spring is still coming because she saw TWO (2) different flocks of Rocky Mountain Bluebirds in the last three days—
first the Red-Winged Blackbirds and now the Rocky Mountain Bluebirds…YAY!
Mom danced a jig. I just twirled around her while she danced…jigs are too hard on old dogs. Just say’n. (Mom also told me that THIS YEAR she wants to get a photo of the Bluebirds…I hope she does.)
“And still the earth is cold and white,
And mead and forest yet are bare;
But there’s something in the light
That says the germ of life is there.”—Jane Goodwin Austin
Spring is coming Soon!
Boomer
Even though the wind was terrible, blowing everything sideways and so chilling one thought the Arctic had suddenly slipped down to gather on the farm
The shadows were still beautiful
Shrinking and thinning as the sun rose higher and higher in the sky
The snow clouds fled and what snow was in the sky never stayed
But the joy of the whole day was this photo!
Finally a beautiful photo of the Red-Winged Blackbirds! Finally!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Mom and I went for a walk night-before-last. IT WAS COLD! Even colder today…when Mom and I got up at 5:00 a.m. it was 7*f! (-13.8889c)
WE ARE COLD!
Anyway, Mom and I went for a midnight walk, or so, we really didn’t see anything. Mom took a photo of a car coming up the side road, that was all.
Then as we were walking back, I think we saw KIT!!! I bayed at him, but he was too fast if it was him. Mom tried to get a photo, but he was way too fast.
So we walked back to the house and went back to bed. Mom loaded wood into the woodstove first…just so we could all stay warm.
Warm is good.
Anyway, the next day, yesterday, Mom and I went out to feed the birds…chickens and wild birds, Mom took her camera with us and tried to get some good photos at the feeders.
While Mom was busy,
I checked out the news on the farm, I wanted to see if Kit really rushed by us, or if it was someone else.
After a spell, Mindy went with me.
Mindy is a really playful cat. She loves to run and jump and romp everywhere we go.
So…here we are…
birds,
dog,
and cat…
and a very cold morning.
Mom and I and Mindy went out and did all our chores early then back we came…Mindy to lay on the carpet right next to the wood stove and me in my very soft bed on the other side of the wood stove.
It’s just too cold to do much, but sleep!
Boomer Beaglie Brown
Mom and Dad get up before the grey light starts to show over by the mountains, eat breakfast, then put on my coat, load me up in the back of the pick-up truck (or up front) and head up to the far reaches of the farm.
By the time we eat breakfast, gather up all the wood gathering tools, put my coat on me, the sun is up and the frost is THICK on the grass.
You see we have to go early before the mud appears, or we would never make it up there and back.
Dad isn’t fond of being stuck and Mom is even more un-fonder since being stuck enough the four-wheel drive doesn’t work means a long walk back to the house to get the tractor and chain, then a very cold ride back to the stuck truck, and THEN Mom has to pull the pick up out, which she HATES to do.
So up we go, every day this week, then it’s back to the yard where Mom sorts and Dad cuts until today when they both announced: “This should hold us for a spell”!
Now….for me it is lots of fun. I can ride up front or in the back, whatever I want. I usually pick the back. I have a coat on you see.
We drive through the cows and the Sandhill Cranes—I don’t bark or whine or howl at them I just watch.
Then Mom sits me out of the truck and I go exploring. I go here and there and everywhere. I go where ever I want to go.
Then when I hear the chain saw stop or I hear Mom holler for me I head back to the truck and get loaded up again.
Back home
I usually go around smelling who or what has been visiting the farm while we were gone.
Then when Mom lets the hens out and heads back into the house,
I always go with her…nap time.
Mom works upstairs on her computer and I take a long nap.
Dad does Dad stuff, I don’t know what that is because, well, you see, I stay with Mom, always.
Boomer Beaglie Brown
Yesterday morning was brisk and cold
So we worked on the log pile cutting and sorting firewood (not having to work in mud–the ground was frozen, you see)
I am NOT a fan of cottonwood…it stinks when it burns and leaves lots of chunks
Gradually our wood is getting cleaned up and sorted and hauled to the house for warmth
There is still lots of winter left, soon we will be hauling from our other wood piles behind the barn and up at the Back Forty
But the stack yard is starting to look rather nice
Then in the late afternoon, as the sun’s heartbeat poised for a wee second on the western horizon, just before the dark rose up
Our sky turned golden
Filling our world with long shadows
And stunning light!
From my heart to your world,
Linda
Mom and I left Mindy in the house…Mom doesn’t like to walk with Mindy. Well, she does, but when Mom and I are going on a LONG Walk, Mom leaves Mindy in the house.
Not because Mindy can’t make the long walk, but because Mindy gets terribly sidetracked and leaves us and sometimes doesn’t come back for days and days.
When that happens (it’s happened twice) Mom is just sure the coyotes got Mindy.
So now, when Mom and I go for LONG walk, Mom leaves Mindy in the house!
So anyway, back to my adventure.
Mom and I go for walks often! Even if it is muddy. Of course, when it’s muddy we don’t go where the Mud is bad, we just go a short ways here and there.
That’s okay by me…any walk is always a good walk.
So off we went because Mom wanted to get photos of the clouds. Mom loves clouds.
Well, Mom loves, clouds, birds, sunsets, sunrises, the moon, HECK taking photos of anything and everything on the farm.
So, once more back to the adventure…off we went to add to mom’s collection of CLOUDS!
She got lots of photos of clouds and I gathered lots of news.
Back home, Mom showed me all the cloud photos and said her favorite for the week was the roll clouds.
Then she gave me a good rub down, a cookie and sat down at her computer.
As for me—
I went outside and had a
good roll on the grass.
Nothing better than a good roll on the grass, this time of year.
(No, I didn’t roll in the manure…it’s all frozen and Mom gets rather grouchy about rolled in manure and me coming into the house…just say’n.)
Boomer
Everything is back to normal…
I still greet the Mail Lady when she drives down our long, long lane,
I go for walks with Mom,
and with my sisters (when they are here) and Mom,
I meet Mom coming home EVERY SINGLE TIME,
I go with Mom to check out stuff on the farm —
but to be honest, it is VERY muddy out there and hard to get around—
I keep the farm safe,
I check for news anytime I go outside,
and I get my feet washed (which I hate) when I come back in because of the MUD!
But the thing I do the very best…is Bay at The UPS MAN!
You see we used to have a very bad UPS man, he would kick at me, he even threw his coat at me once, yelled at me, ran at me like he was going to tackle me. Mom saw each and everything he did.
Finally, one day Mom said… “You do one more thing to my dog and I’m calling your supervisor.” The bad UPS driver just got in his truck and gunned it out of the yard.
Mom didn’t call his supervisor, but she sure thought long and hard about it.
THEN ONE DAY we had a new driver…he comes with DOG TREATS!
Mom always meets him at the truck so he doesn’t have to get out, but the other day he got out before Mom got there.
You see Mom’s package was all torn and beat up. This really nice UPS driver met Mom and showed her the package, then filed a report for her.
BUT I BAYED AND BAYED AND BAYED.
I refused to listen to Mom.
The UPS driver said that I could talk all I want, he said he LIKES beagles! Can you imagine that!
SO, I DID!
Then I bayed him down the lane to the bridge and came back home very proud of myself.
Mom gave me a COOKIE!!
There is something good about being a watch beagle!
Boomer
P.S. Mom wants you to know some of the photos were taken earlier when we didn’t have snow and mud. But you don’t mind, I’m sure.
Boomer
While I was out collecting the firewood for the evening, I decided to take a walk first
Since the evening was coming on fast; long shadows stretching across the farm road
I knew if I were going to find things of interest I needed to be about it
The wind was rather sharp, but not strong or cutting, just brisk with a chill to it.
The sky was beautiful
Making my walk even more special
The colors swirling around me
On the way back to the farmyard, the woodpile and the warmth of the house…I saw a glittering little heart-shaped rock.
Giving joy to my soul and wings to the essence of myself!
From my world to your heart,
Linda
Life on a Colorado Farm 